Local authorities confirmed their timeline for the World Cup venue. Design should be ready within one year from now with construction starting in 2014 and ending when FIFA demands it – in mid-2016.

New stadium in Samara, expected to hold 45,000 people and cost $430 million, will be ready in December 2016. This is the suggested FIFA deadline, two years ahead of 2018 World Cup. Should there be a delay, another deadline is set one year ahead of the tournament.

In order to get the venue ready on time, authorities expect works to start no later than in early 2014. This in turn means that final design needs to be ready in late 2013. This was indeed announced today by Samara region sports minister Dmitry Shlyakhtin. As he said, we should know the final design in November 2013.

The plan for the stadium change radically after fatal floods in the country's south led President Vladimir Putin to order any large facilities built near water must be at least eight meters above the water level. Relocation was ordered to eastern part of the 1.2-million city, closer to the airport and highway, currently under construction.